The specific aim of this proposal is to extend for two years the program of mentorship and training that has afforded me the opportunity to obtain additional research skills and experience in scientific disciplines that have direct theoretical and methodological relevance to the study of human aging, and which augment my present background in the medical demography of aging. The disciplines in which I propose to continue to develop additional skills are evolutionary biology, molecular biology, epidemiology, and statistics, as each relates to aging. I will work with the following mentors: Dr. Christine Cassel (primary advisor; geriatric medicine and gerontology), Dr. Jacob Brody (epidemiology), Dr. Brian Charlesworth (evolutionary biology), Dr. Paul Meier (statistics), and Dr. Caleb Finch (molecular biology).